IBM, Sun Deliver OpenSolaris Prototype for IBM Mainframes

IBM and Sun Microsystems deliver a prototype of OpenSolaris running on the IBM System z mainframe, with the help of a consultancy named Sine Nomine Associates.

IBM and Sun Microsystems have made good
on a promise to make open source code from the OpenSolaris operating system
available on IBM System z mainframes.
Enlisting the help of Sine Nomine Associates, a consultancy out of Ashburn,
Va., IBM
and Sun on Nov. 3 announced the availability of OpenSolaris-based prototype
code running on an IBM System z mainframe. SNA
developed the prototype with equipment and financial assistance from IBM
and technical assistance from Sun, the companies said.

The IBM mainframe provides an attractive
environment for the OpenSolaris platform, particularly in shops looking to leverage
the reliability and scalability afforded by the IBM
System z.
Moreover, enterprises with existing C/C++ Solaris-based applications running
on Sun hardware can easily migrate to OpenSolaris on System z, Sun officials
said. Sun's Solaris, upon which OpenSolaris is based, is widely used in data
centers among financial services and other sectors. And IBM
officials claim that running Solaris on an IBM
mainframe in a virtualized environment offers resource management benefits.
More specifically, the move can help enterprises reduce energy costs, save
floor space, consolidate hardware and securely manage their most complex
transactions, IBM said. For instance, a
single IBM z10 mainframe is the equivalent
of 1,500 x86 servers with 85 percent less energy costs and 85 percent less data
center space, IBM officials said.

Sun created OpenSolaris as an open-source effort in 2005 to build a
developer community around the Solaris operating system. In May 2008 the
community delivered the OpenSolaris OS, a single distribution for desktop,
server and high-performance computing deployments.
A download of the prototype is available here.
IBM officials said OpenSolaris runs as a
guest on the mainframe's z/VM, which allows many virtual images to run
simultaneously. Moreover, with the release of the code, developers
throughout the open-source community can now participate in the project and
help extend the port.
"We are pleased that our collaboration with Sine Nomine Associates and Sun
has reached a key milestone by creating this OpenSolaris OS prototype for IBM's
z/VM, and we look forward to the active participation of the open-source
community on this project," said Bernard Meyerson, IBM
fellow and chief technologist in the IBM
Systems and Technology Group, in a statement.
Also in a statement, David Boyes, chief technologist and president of Sine
Nomine Associates, said, "The delivery of OpenSolaris OS for IBM's
System z hardware augments the scope of the extensive research that SNA
has done on massive-scale data center virtualization, extending our initial
scalability work on Linux for IBM System z
and expanding the tools and skills that can be brought to bear on today's
enterprise computing problems."

Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.